The Mind of Christ in the Believer

If you have your Bibles with you, open them to the Book of Philippians. Philippians. Our theme is the mind of Christ, and we'll we're looking at Philippians chapter two. But as we open to Philippians, I don't know how familiar you are with this book, but I just want to point a couple of things out to you. There are a number of verses in the Book of Philippians that most Christians learn early on. If you've known them for a while, then you may forget that they're actually in the Book of Philippians. I just want to point a couple of them out as we look here Philippians, chapter one and verse twenty one. For me to live is Christ to die? Is gain very familiar with that one. Our passage here in chapter two will be very familiar. But also if you look at chapter three, look at chapter three, beginning in verse eight, indeed, I count everything is lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, Jesus my Lord, for his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things, and count all and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. Look down at verse fourteen, I press on towards the goal of the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus. Look at Chapter four, beginning a verse four, rejoicing the Lord always again, I will say, rejoice, Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, Let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and mind. In Christ Jesus, how many of us learn that early on? Look in the next verse. Finally, Brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, Think about these things. And of course, who can forget Philippians four thirteen. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. And verse nineteen. My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory. In Christ Jesus. If you. Haven't learned those verses and committed those verses in some way to your memory, I commend them to you. And as we think about the mind of Christ, I want to point that out, and not only because this is the book that we're going to be looking at tonight, but also because in a very real sense, the mind of Christ is about just this. The mind of Christ at the end of the day is about us walking with Christ, yes, being in communion with Christ. Yes. But it's about thinking his thoughts after him. Amen. It is about not being conformed to the pattern of this world, as Paul would say, but being transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that by testing we may approve the world of God. That by testing we may approve. How do we do that by not being conformed, but being transformed in our minds, by changing the way we think? And what begins to happen and what we begin to see in the body of Christ is how godly mature men and women in the body simplify this and model this. Do you have people like that in your life? Do you have people in your life and you go, I'm facing a situation. I really don't know what to do. I really don't know how to think about this situation. You had that person in your life who comes to mind right then, because you know that they are going to give you the Lord's word and not just a Bible verse ripped out of the text, but an applicable word in season. They're going to think about whatever that thing is from a biblical perspective. That's the mind of Christ. That right there, that's the mind of Christ. That they're not going to take their Christian hat off and just give you what anybody in the world will give you. And you know this, that's why you go to other friends who are not Christians. Let's say you're having a problem with your child, or you're having a problem in your marriage. You go to other friends who are not Christians, and they're going to give you the same answers that you find out there in the world. That they'll give you some therapeutic answer. They'll they'll give you some worldly answer. They'll they'll give you some answer again shallow, worldly, and you'll know it's not right. And eventually, and maybe even reluctantly, you go to that person that you know will bring the mind of Christ to bear on the situation. And I say reluctantly because oftentimes we're well aware that that answer is going to cut against the grain of what we're hearing everywhere else. Here's the other thing. It's going to be harder than what we hear everywhere else. Amen. Can we be honest? We know it's going to be harder because everywhere else I'm going to hear the answer that my flesh wants to hear, because I'm going to hear it from other people's flesh. These are men and women of the flesh, and they're going to give me answers to the flesh. And if you're mad at your husband and you want to bash his brains, are oh, don't act like you don't get that mad at your husband. If we're not going to be honest, we can just go you've been married long more than a couple of days. Amen, Somebody right, if you've been mad. At your wife. And and you know, you just have the images of you know that that scene in the Avengers where the. Hulk takes Loki. Puny God, right, those images, those those desires, the flesh creeps in, and that's how you want to respond. We're angry, we want to walk away. And you go to your friends in the world and you know that they're going to say, you know what, you deserve to be happy, or you go to immature Christians and im sure Christians are going to say the same thing, but make it sound kind of spiritual. You know, God wouldn't want you to be miserable. And then you're gonna think, I gotta go to my brother, I gotta go to my sister, I gotta go to my father and the faith. I gotta go to that uncle in the church. That auntie in the church. Was going to answer this, not according to the flesh. It's not going to give me something that says yes, follow that impulse, follow that desire. But instead it's going to be mind of Christ. That's what this weekend is about. Amen. And today I want us to sort of set the stage by looking here in Philippians chapter two. We'll be getting there at verse one, and we'll look at perhaps the most familiar passage here in the Book of Philippians. Paul is writing to the church here in Philippi, and he's encouraging unity for the sake of the Gospel. The church in Philippi is a good church and a helpful church. We see that early on in the letter. For example, in chapter one, beginning of verse three, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, they've supported him, they've walked with him, they've encouraged him, and they've been a good church in that regard. But there's an area where they need to be challenged and encouraged. And the area is in the area of unity, because without that they will undo everything. And so he begins here in chapter two, verse one. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in this period, any affection and sympathy. And by the way, there are all these things. And we know that there are all these things. We looked at that in chapter four he uses that same line of argumentation. All of these things absolutely exist. All of these things are ours in Christ. If we are in Christ, then there is encouragement, there is comfort from love, there's participation in the spirit, there's affection, and there is sympathy. That's what it means to be a Christian. That's what it means to be part of the body of Christ. So that's where he starts. He's about to make a demand, but he starts there, I'm making a demand on you. He's not making a demand on their flesh. He's not making to demand on people who are just out there in the world. He's making a demand on people who are in Christ. And it's very important to note here that when we talk about the mind of Christ, here's what we're not talking about. We're not talking about some sort of scheme to help you have a better life apart from the person in work of Christ. That's not what we're talking about. This is not, you know, one of those back in the day. For a while, it was really popular because of one author in particular, to have these business conferences, right, and it will be these business conferences where there would be principles from the Book of Proverbs for your business. No Gospel, no Christ, just these principles. We're gonna yank these principles out of the scripture so that you can have these principles and be a better businessman. Where we're not gonna yank these principles out of the scripture and give you these principles so you can be a better husband, better wife, better mother, better father, apart from the person in work of Christ. That's not the way the Gospel works. That's moralism. Moralism says Jesus is our moral example, and we come to him as our moral example. And if we live. Our lives following his moral example, we will be better people and we will have better lives. Newsflash, that's actually true. But that's not the gospel. Amen. If that's all you get, then you. Die and you're separated from God for all eternity and hell. Because that's not sufficient. So it's very important to recognize he's talking to members of the body of Christ. So there's absolutely encouragement in Christ. There's absolutely comfort from love, participation in the spirit, affection and sympathy. All of those things are ours in Christ. All of those things are true of us because of the person and work of Christ. Once he establishes this, he says in verse two, if there's any of that, he's my desire, complete, my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, and being in full accord and of one mind. If that's true, If there's encouragement in Christ and comfort from love and participation in the spirit, affection and sympathy, if that's true, If that's true, if you Christian, and if all of you can raise your hand and say, yes. That's true. Yes, that's true. That's true. If that's true, and we know that it's true, then you need to complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind. That's the desire that you would be one. He introduces this earlier a few verses earlier. Look up in chapter one, verse twenty seven. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel. That's what I want. I appreciate that you are a supportive church. I appreciate that you are partners in the Gospel. But I want you to be one. I want you to have unity. There's his desire. By the way, this desire is in keeping with our Lord's desire. Look at in the Gospel of John, John chapter seventeen. John chapter seventeen is really the Lord's prayer. Amen, we have the model prayer our Father in Heaven, right, that's the model prayer. But the Lord's prayer this would best be titled the Lord's prayer. His High priestly prayer in John chapter seventeen. Look at this John chapter seventeen, beginning of verse twenty A number of places that we can look and see this, but no place more poignant than here again Jesus praying. Through the Father toward the end of his life. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. Talking about the disciples, and those who believe through their word, that would be us, amen, that they may all be one, just as you, Father are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Don't miss that. Here's the union and communion that we have as believers, that we are in Christ, which unites us to the Father by the power of the Spirit, and also unites us to one another. That's the communion that we have verse twenty two. The glory that you have given me. I have given to them that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, You and me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. If that's the case, and if that's Christ's desire for his bride. Then the apostle cannot be satisfied with the church that's not unified, even if that church is a giving church, even if that church is gifted in any number of ways, if it's not reflecting that union and communion that we have with Christ and with one another, that union that we have with the Godhead because of the person and work of Christ, then there is a problem. John chapter seventeen is an explanation and an outworking of the Covenant of Redemption. The Covenant of Redemption is a covenant between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Before the foundation of the world, an eternity passed, there was a covenant made in the Godhead, and it's outlined in John seventeen. That covenant goes like this. The Father, out of his love for the Son, bequeathed a gift to the son. That gift that he bequeathed to the Son was a people. The Son, out of his love for the Father, gave his life to redeem those people whom the Father gave to him as a love gift. The Spirit, who is the very personification of the love between the Father and the Son, in time unites those people by applying that redemption through the person in work of Christ, so that those people might be united with Christ and united with the Godhead. Here's the picture. God is love and an eternity past. The God who is love decided that that. Love would spill over into creation, and that love that spills over into creation creates a people by love who are redeemed by love, who has that redemption applied to them by love, so that they might be united to the God whose love spilled over into creation. That's what Paul is referring to here. So when he talks about oneness, he's not talking about a superficial oneness, but a supernatural oneness. This mystical union that we have, it is a beautiful thing. There are other versions and pictures of this mystical union. For example, my next of can my closest living relative, my next of kin is not related to me by blood. You ever thought about that closer to me, that my mother, than my father, than my sister, than my brother. My next of kin, my closest living relative not related to me by blood. She's my wife, and through a mystical union we two have become one flesh, not just physically, but also spiritually and emotionally one flesh. And that is a picture of this mystical union between Christ and his church. We see that, and if he's in chapter five, do we not? So we had this beautiful, earthly example, and that's what's being referred to here. So there's this desire, there's this request. After that, we get some commands. Get some commands. Look at verse three. And in order to understand these commands, we've got to understand the way Paul is operating here. I already said earlier that what he's saying is to people who belong to Christ, people who have redeemed, been redeemed by the person in work of Christ. That we're not talking about moralism here. We're not talking about Christ just being our moral example. Here, He's not just saying, I really want you to do better. So when we look at these commands, we have to look at them in that light. But they are absolutely commands verse three. So these commands explain what Paul is talking about. He's saying, I want you to be one same mind, same love, full accord, one mind. What does that look like? Verse three? Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. There's a don't. Here's a d but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Here's another don't. Let each of you look not only to his own interest and then another du but also to the interests of others. Two does and two. Don'ts to very serious and explicit commands. Here's what he desires. He desires first that we do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, and the opposite of that, that in humility we count others as more significant. Have we heard anything about that earlier in the letter? Yes, indeed we have. Go to chapter one and look, beginning verse twelve. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has already served to advance the gospel. Remember this is about unity for the sake of the gospel. This whole letter about advancing the gospel. They've given so that the gospel can be advanced. They want the gospel to be advanced. I want you to know that's happening so that verse thirteen, it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to all the rest, that my imprisonment is for Christ. This is happening all over the place. They're knowing this, my imprisonment is being used for the advancement of the Gospel, and most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the Word without fear. This is awesome. I am in jail again. Paul was a repeat offender. But this time the Word is spreading even among the Imperial Guard. And because of the work that the Lord is doing, the brethren are being in boldened. The Gospel's going forth. But then the good verse fifteen. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the Gospel. The former proclaimed Christ out of what selfish ambition? Not sincerity, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. By the way, Paul's fine either way verse eighteen. What then, only that in every way, whether it is pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that. I rejoice. So now look back at our verse verse three. Do nothing out of selfish ambition. That's that same phrase. Some of these people are preaching out of selfish ambition. His desire is that they might be one. The command is do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit. Here's a newsflash. Your natural inclination is to do everything out of selfish ambition and conceit. If you can't say amen, you ought to say out. That is your natural inclination. We are born in sin, shaped in iniquity. We are selfish people, every last one of us. It's our natural inclination. And here's a newsflash. When we come to faith in Christ, that selfish inclination is still there and it has to be worked. Out of us. Sanctification is not immediate, Amen, justification us being declared righteous. That that happens, and that's immediate. That happens, and it's done. It's a legal declaration. Our adoption is immediate. We are declared children of God. It's a legal declaration. It's done. Our sanctification happens progressively over time throughout our entire lives, as we are more and more conformed to the image of Christ. What that means is most of your sin problem is not dealt with on day one. Amen. Now there are some things, there are some things that God takes away from people on day one. People have testified to that, and it usually has to do with how the Lord is going to use them in their lives. For whatever reason, that thing needed to be gone on day one, and that thing was. Going on day one. And you may have met people like this, people who used to be drunkards and they got saved and then they lost the taste. It's usually not the way it happens. But there are people for whom that's their testimony or other things like that, but that's not the normal way that it happens, by the way, that's the downside of those kind of testimonies. Amen. I always tell people, if that's your testimony, to be careful with it, because if we're not careful with it. And here's what happens. We stand up there and we share our testimony as though somehow when we got saved, our sanctification was immediate, and everybody else is out there going, wow, I must be a horrible person because I struggle with stuff. And what's interesting is. Wellout question individuals for whom that's their testimony. The Lord saved me, and he just this was gone. Guess what else is usually their testimony? They continue to struggle with pride, so sanctification happens over time. Selfish ambition was your life, your motivation, and your goal. Just because you became a Christian doesn't mean that that selfish ambition and conceit was gone. It usually means you found other avenues for it. And Paul is saying, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. The opposite of that. But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Count others more significant than yourselves. That is not a natural response. It's not. Count others more significant than yourselves doesn't mean that you have no significance. It means that you have an outward orientation and other orientation. So there's the first command. Let's look at that second command. Let each if you think not only to his own interests. He doesn't say, don't think to your own interests. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing sinful about that. Amen. No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. As we read Ephesians five, right, you have to look out after your own interest so he says, look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. So we're counting others more significant than ourselves. And we're looking to the interests of others. There are the commands. Now here's where we often get off the rails. We are bent toward moralism, we're bent toward legalism. We're bent toward looking at Christianity as a list of dues and don'ts. So when we read the scriptures, we love it when we find things like this where we can make a list of things and boxes for us to tick off, so that we can gauge whether or not we're righteous, or more accurately, whether or not we're more righteous than other people by the number of boxes that we find to tick off. Your flesh loves lists of things to do. Amen, because we want to. We want to redeem ourselves. We want to we want some reason to boast. Are you a Christian? Yes? Because I don't do this, this, this, or this, and I always do this, this, this, and this. Me good? You bad. We love to watch the nightly news so then we can see all the things the terrible people have done that we would never do. And then we come to a passage like this, and we go great, another list that I can take off, and I'm gonna go through my life and I'm gonna go through my right. I'm gonna find ways tomorrow that I can do this and not do that. Slow your role. Something that we find in scriptures, especially in the New Testament, that we need to keep in mind, especially when we're reading the epistles, and that is indicatives and imperatives. Now, indicatives, okay, that's the part of speech that indicates what something is. Indicatives, These are flowers. That's an indicative statement. I'm indicating what something is. You with me, okay, an imperative statement. Smell the flowers. That's telling me something to do. Smell the flowers. In the New Testament, and by the way, this is an important part of understanding the mind in Christ. In the New Testament, especially in the epistles, we have to understand the inexorable link between indicatives and imperatives. Imperatives tell us what to do right. Indicatives Indicatives tell us who we are as a result of the person and work of Christ, what God has done on our behalf through the person and work of Christ. That's what indicatives do. So when we're reading the epistles, we're reading the New Testament, we would be mindful of the fact that there are indicatives that tell us what God. Has done on our behalf. Through the person and work of Christ, and who we are as a result of what God has done through the person and work of Christ. Imperatives tell us what to do and what we're enabled to do as a direct result of what God has accomplished on our behalf through the person and work of Christ. They're linked inexorably. What they're not telling us is listen, Jesus died to save you. He died on the cross to redeem you. You're justified, You've been adopted. That's great. Now, Jesus's part of this is over. Now you need to go out and do these things in and of yourself. No, the indicatous in the par imperatives go together, and that's exactly what's happening here. So watch. Here are the imperatives. Do nothing for selfish ambition, from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. By the way. Your flesh can't do that, won't do that. There's four that each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interests of others. Your flesh can't do that. Won't do that? Verse five, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Now, between verse four and verse five, I want you again, we don't add to scripture, we don't take away from scripture. But in order to understand this, in order to make this point, I want you to think about the question that comes between verses four and five. I'm not to do anything out of self cos ambition or conceit, but in humility, connsider others more significant than myself. If I'm the look not only to my own interest but also to the interest of others, and if my flesh is ill equipped to do that, then here's the question that comes between verse four and verse five. How do I do that? How do I do that? Because I know myself, I know myself. It's going to be just like how many times how many of you have had the experience of trying to read through the Bible for the first time. I'm gonna read through the Bible this year. I'm gonna do it. And you get there and you're in Genesis and right it's January, and you're all committed, and. You just like bumped and fired up, and you're. Reading through Genesis, and Genesis is all narrative and it's juicy and it's got all this stuff. And you get through Genesis and you're like, yes, you get the Exodus, still a bunch of narrative stuff and it's good. And you got the baby in the basket and then you got plagues and you got all day. I mean, then you just say you, yeah, you just you make it. It's a little rough, but you make it. You've made it through Exodus this year, I'm gonna do it. And then you're rewarded with Leviticus. Next thing, you know, it's May June. Maybe you get up and dust yourself off and you go at it again. Right, you muddle your the way through Leviticus, and you're rewarded with numbers. That's our flesh. And that's exactly how we are with things like this. You hear something like this and there's an immediate knee jerk reaction that says, yeah, you know what, that's true. I do need to be more like that. That's true. I do think too highly of myself. I need to stop that. I do need to consider others more highly. I do need to consider the interests of others. Lord I'm convicted over this. Thank you for showing me this. I'm gonna do better. And you do a few days, a few weeks, and then the next thing, you know, a few months later, you hear something like this again, and you go, you know. What, I remember? I remember the Lord convicted me about that before, and I've slipped and I'm not doing Lord. I'm gonna recommit, and I'm gonna stop me. If stop me, if you've seen this movie before, and for a lot of us, that's our Christian life. So that question goes between there, how do I do that have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, there needs to be a change in your mind. By the way, we already looked at that in Romans twelve. Right, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world. Right to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Having this mind in yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. By the way, having this mind in yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, means you already had it. Amen. You don't need to go find it. You already have it because you're in Christ. We are already established that at the beginning that he's talking to people who are in Christ. This is yours. This is your inheritance as a child of God who's been redeemed by the person and work of Christ. This is yours. But notice what he says, though, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ, Jesus. Have this mind among yourselves. This is something that we press into We are able to because of the person in work of Christ on our behalf. It has been granted to us because of the person in work of Christ on our behalf. What is this mind? From verse six on we get what is known as the Canotic hymn. It's this beautiful picture of the person and work of Christ on our behalf. But it's also a beautiful picture of the mind of Christ that is worked out in our redemption. So what is this mind of Christ? What is this mind that is ours in Christ Jesus, that enables and empowers us to be humble and selfless verse six, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. In order to understand this, we must first understand that Christ is indeed God. This mind that is in us, this mind of Christ. We have to understand first and foremost that this is the mind of God, who, though he was in the form of God, that Christ is indeed God. A couple of passages of scripture that we need to look at. Look at John one, John one, John one one. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Through him, all things were made that were made. Amen. Without him, well I have apart from him. Without him, nothing was made. Jesus is co eternal with the Father. Jesus is co creator with the Father and with the Spirit, the creator of all things, all things that have been made. He's not like God, He's not close to God. He's God. Look at John fourteen. Look at John fourteen. A little bit longer passage here, but it's well worth it. John fourteen one. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you that I'm sorry. Would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am you may be also, and you know the way to where I'm going. Thomas said to him, I love this, Lord, we do not know where you're going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my father. Also from now on, you do know him and have seen him. Then presses in it, goes, Lord, show us the Father, and it's enough for us. This is, this is, this is that's why this is Jesus and not us. Because I'm at this point, I'm like, just all of y'all, I'm gonna get some more disciples. Just go. And he says, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me? Philip, whoever has seen me has seen the Father? How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or else believe on account of the works themselves. This mind that is in us, the mind of Christ, who, though he was in the form of God, who though he was God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. By the way that right there is enough that that's the mind you have access to. When you talk about humility. He's not saying that somehow you need to reach deep and just muster up enough of whatever there is in you that you have so that you can be humble and you can be selfless. No, he's saying, here's who you've been united with, Here's who you belonged to. Here's whose mind you are being conformed to, the. One who's God. And he's so humble that he didn't even consider equality with God a thing to be grassed. So when you get upset because people didn't respect you enough, remember that's not coming from the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is the mind that did not consider equality with God a thing to be grassed. And he goes further into it verse seven. But emptied himself by taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men. It's a question in the Westminster short of Catechism, question number twenty seven, wherein did Christ's humiliation consist? Theologically we talk about christ humiliation and his exaltation, and oftentimes when we think about Christ's humiliation, we think about the Cross. But Paul here is referring to Christ's humiliation already in this text. Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. So question twenty seven, where in did Christ's humiliation consist? The answer? Christ's humiliation consisted in being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God and the cursed death of the cross, and being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time. Where does it start? His humiliation begins the moment he leaves heaven and takes on fleedg The King of Glory humbled himself and became a man. The King of Glory humbled himself and didn't even become an important man. The King of Glory humbled himself and wasn't born in a palace. He was born in a manger. So when we're thinking of others more highly than ourselves, there is some mind operating in us that's not the mind of Christ. Because the mind of Christ. Is not just humble but humiliated, doesn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, let alone a title or a position or the respect of men. But he humbles himself and becomes a lonely man. And that's not even all verse eight and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. First he doesn't hold on to his position. Second, he doesn't hold on to glory. Then third he doesn't hold onto his life. He dies. To redeem the bride bequeathed to him by his father. He lays down his life, and he dies of death that he does not deserve, to pay a penalty that he does not owe, in order to redeem a bride who does not deserve it. This is the mind that is ours in Christ, Jesus. So we can't read verse three and four as Paul saying, I want you to gird up your loins and try real hard to do better at this. What we have to read verse three and four in light of what he's just said here in verses six and seven and eight, because verse six seven and eight says you have union and communion with Christ. You belong to Christ, and the mind of Christ is yours. It's your inheritance. So when I'm not doing this, when I'm thinking to highly of myself, there's a couple of things that I can do. Number one, I can say I need to try harder, do better. Or number two, I can say I am not exercising the mind of Christ, and I can run to Christ. I can flee to Christ. I can remind myself of who Christ is. I can remind myself of what Christ emptied himself of. I can remind myself of what Christ suffered. And when I do that, something incredible happens. My wife is not. I feel like my wife should be respecting me more than she respects me. I feel like this person always here should be respecting me more than they're respecting me. I feel like I should be honored more than I'm being honored. I feel like I should be whatever it is feeling the blank, I double dog dare you when that thought comes to your mind to remind yourself of Christ, who left his title, who left glory and gave up his life to redeem you, and then turn back to that person and keep that same thought. I dare you. See, what we need is not a three step process of how to think of others more highly right. What we need is a one step process of reminding ourselves of who we are and how we got to be who we are through the person and work of Christ on our behalf, who gave up his title, who gave up his home and glory, and gave up his life. And when that happens that there's no more I need to do these three steps so I can be more selfless. When that happens, it changes the way we think about the circumstance completely. I hope it's done it for you just now, because everyone under the sound of my voice has had that experience, and probably recently you feel like you were dishonored, and you feel like you were disrespected, and you feel like you weren't thought highly enough of. You cannot hold that thought and this one simultaneously, because when you hold this thought, when you think of Christ, who gave up his title and gave up his home and glory, and gave up his life. You come back to that situation and you think I don't deserve anything. What I deserve is death, hell and the grave. Amen, and I've been redeemed. I've been redeemed. Not only have I been redeemed, but I've been redeemed by the blood of Christ. The greatest price that has ever been paid to redeem anyone or anything in this world was paid to redeem me. And then look at the last part of it. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus, every niece should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. There's his exaltation, and the exaltation belongs to Christ. But here's the news flash, folks, we are going to be exalted with him. So whatever honor I didn't get here, whatever respect I didn't get here, whatever position I didn't get here, pales in comparison to the glory that we will be revealed in us. Now keep that in mind and look at the next couple of verses. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, So now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and tribling. There's another command, right, that's an imperative, and it's a scary imperative. It's so scary it has fear and trembling in it. Right, So we went from imperatives to indicative. Now we go back to imperatives again. Read the next verse. For it is God who works in you to will and to work for his good pleasure. There's the indicative, there's the indicative. He comes back and he reminds us again, you don't have the imperatives without the indicatives. And the indicatives that's the mind of Christ that has to be formed in you. The mind of Christ that is formed in you is what allows you to think rightly and to act rightly in circumstances and situations that your flesh cannot handle. So what we need is the mind of Christ. And what is so pernicious about the way our adversary, the devil operates, is that he has Christians, for the most part, tied up in legalism and moralism, trying to better our flesh, instead of recognizing the mind of Christ, which is ours, instead of recognizing that. What we are called upon to do is to press in to the mind of Christ, to be conformed to the image of Christ, so that we bear the family resemblance and learn to think Christ's thoughts after him, so that remind ourselves again and and again of whose we are because of the person and work of Christ that has redeemed us. And then coming back to our situations and circumstances with the mind of Christ. Not, see, we don't do that instead of obedience. Amen, we don't do that instead of obedience. We do that because it's the only thing that will produce obedience. As the mind of Christ is developed in us, we begin to think Christ's thoughts after him. When circumstances come our way. We apply that over and over and over again, and as we grow in grace, that application becomes more and more natural of us. But don't get too proud, because what will happened is you'll get so proud of yourself because you'll say, hey, there used to be a time when I struggled with this, and now because the mind of Christ on this right here, I got this, I got this, and then another sin. I'll tap you on your shoulder and remind you you need to apply the mind of Christ in every area and that aspect of your life. But here's what's even worse from our perspective, is you'll grow in grace in this particular area, and you'll get strengthened in this particular area. And just when you think, praise the Lord, I've overcome this particular area, Praise the Lord. I used to be a hot head, couldn't stand to be disrespected, couldn't stand whatever this that idea. But now, but now the mind of Christ. Look at the way that I'm handling all this, And then something else will happen to remind you sanctification is an ongoing process throughout the entirety of your life. Amen, hallelujah, Praise the Lord. Not finished yet, But that's okay, because the Blood of Christ will never lose its power. You keep running there, you keep reminding yourself of what God has accomplished on your behalf through the person and work of Christ, and who you are as a result of it, and what you have been enabled and empowered to do as a direct result of it, and how that transformation brings you to greater and greater obedience. Not just greater and greater obedience, but delight in your obedience and Beloved, this is what we're experiencing when we go to that mature brother or sister and the Lord. We come to them with whatever it is, and in one way or another they do this. They take our situation or our circumstance, and rather than responding according to. The flesh, they. Take you back to the Gospel, back to the person and work of Christ, who you are as a result of what God has accomplished on your behalf through the person in work of Christ, and applies that to whatever your circumstance is. This is what I'm dealing with with my kid, This is what the Gospel says you are as a parent. This is what I'm dealing with with my husband, with my wife. This is what Christ and his redemption has given you access to as a husband, as a wife, and by God's grace we learn to walk in it. Amen.